welcome back to "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. japanese police say they are closing in on the last suspect from aum shinrikyo still on the run. they've released security video of a man they say is katsuy katsuya takahashi. police released three photos. two were taken on monday. they show takahashi withdrawing money. they say the account was registered under a false name. and the third photo is one

takahashi submitted for a company identification card. investigators showed the photos to another cult member they arrested on sunday. she confirmed that the man in the pictures is takahashi. he's the last of a list of suspects wanted for the sarin gas attacks in 1995 on the tokyo subway system. the national police agency has asked offices across the country to search for the fugitive. they say he could have left the kawasaki area with the money he withdrew. nokuchi was one of the most wanted fugitives. she was caught sunday and has been cooperating with police. they are learning more about how she spent her life on the run. she was living with hirot hiroto takahashi, no relation to the fugitive. police arrested him on suspicion of harboring her. investigators say the two lived together in and around tokyo.

takahashi met kikuch ni 2005. she revealed her identity after six months together. he says he proposed several times but she always said no. investigators found a photograph of the couple in wedding attire. kikuchi says her partner gave her a ring. takahashi says they discussed turning themselves in to police several times but kikuchi also refused. south korean president lee myung-bak says his government will deal strictly with any proveivations by north korea. he made the warning in response to threats from the north. >> translator: south korea will safeguard peace on the korean peninsula. we will punish any provocations in a strict manner. >> lee went to the national cemetery in seoul for memorial day. he paid tribute to fallen soldiers, including those who died in the korean war. lee praised the return of the remains of soldiers killed in the north during the war. u.s. troops brought them back to

seoul last month. >> finding other soldiers remains in north korea would be the first priority if the two koreas are unified. >> north korean military leaders have been threatening to attack the government and media outlets in south korea. they blame the neighbors for carrying out smear campaigns against the new leadership under kim jong-un. the leaders of china and russia remain opposed to any military intervention in syria. president vladimir putin and hu jintao held a summit meeting in beijing. their show of unity is frustrating western powers looking for ways to increase the pressure on the syrian government. nhk world reports. >> reporter: russian president vladimir putin is in beijing where he held talks with chinese president hu jintao. this was his first visit to china since returning to the presidency in may.

putin told hu that the two countries share common interest in many fields, including international affairs, the economy and technologies. putin also said ties between russia and china have developed to the highest level ever, and he wants to develop them even further. hu said he wants to step up the two countries' strategic partnership, including military and energy fields. the two leaders also discussed syria. they said the international community should support mediation by former u.n. chief kofi annan and seek a political solution. the summit of the shanghai corporation organization opens on wednesday in beijing. the body was formed by russia, china and other asian countries. putin is expected to have talks with iranian president mahmoud

ahmadinejad who will attend the summit as an observer. analysts say that putin is trying to counter moves by the united states and european countries over syria and other issues. hideo ammano, nhk world, beijing. the united nations says syrian leaders have agreed to let aid workers expand humanitarian operations in the country. officials from the u.n. office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs said the government has granted access to staff of the world food program. eight other u.n. agencies and seven other ngos. the workers are expected to arrive within a few days. they'll be posted at four sites, including the central city of homs and daraa in the south. >> whether this is a breakthrough or not will be evident in the coming days and weeks, and it will be measured not in rhetoric, not in agreements, but in action on the

ground. >> aid officials say at least 1 million people are urgently in need of assistance. they say food and medicine have been in short supply since the crackdown began in march last year. human rights activists say government forces have not let up in their attacks in homs. they say 65 people were killed across the country in the past two days. presidents hu and putin will meet up again later in the day. they are taking part in a two-day security summit with the leaders of four central asian nations. they tried to agree on joint plans to combat terrorism and keep secessionist movements in check. hu and putin will lead the discussions of the shanghai cooperation organization. hu regards stability at home as the top priority ahead of a leadership change later this year. chinese leaders want to quell separatists movements in the shenzhen autonomous region. putin is expected to urge other members to rally behind russia in opposing a missile defense system that nato plans to deploy

in europe. a white house official says europe should do more to prevent the debt crisis from spreading further. his comment came ahead of the g-20 summit meeting that begins on june the 18th in mexico. >> there really has been a lot of action in europe. now, clearly, with the -- what's clear now from the markets is that they expect more, and more is needed. >> he said european nations need to strengthen their banking systems in the short run. he also said drawing up measures to advance economic growth and broaden financial integration will be necessary for europe in the mid and long term. spain may ask european institutions to help shore up its financial system. until now, the country had tried to recapitalize its banks using

its own public funds. that's despite fiscal difficulties. spanish treasury minister said that it's difficult for the country to raise funds in the market as the interest rates on its government bonds are now over 6%. he then hinted at the possibility of seeking help from bailout funds set up by eurozone members. montoro said the key to successful reform of spanish banks is in the hands of european institutions. recent data point to a slowdown in the chinese economy. our reporter jaymee ng in hong kong has more. >> reporter: uncertainties over china's economy are making investors cautious. but some investors are already looking ahead to a rebound. we asked the chief economist at nomura international in hong kong to share his views. he predicts china's gdp growth will slow to slightly below 8% this quarter. that could cause china to pursue

more aggressive policies. >> we expect rrr cut of 50 basis points in the third quarter. we think that the pboc is relaxing loan quotas, so we'll see more stronger bank lending. and don't forget the fiscal side. china has still a lot of room to do fiscal stimulus on social housing, on railway investment, and also to stimulate consumption through exchanging cash for clunkers whether it comes to motor vehicles, whether it comes to offering subsidies for environmental savings. in terms of consumer durables. at nomura, we expect this to be the bottom this quarter, and with greater stimulus, monetary and fiscal, we see growth picking up in the second half of the year. and for the full year, gdp growth will probably be around

8.4%. >> investment in china is also lower than last year due to concerns over the economy. he expects this trend to continue. meanwhile, chinese companies will be sending more of their money overseas. >> chinese companies have a lot of reason to invest overseas. one is costs are rising in china. so they need to move to lower cost destinations like vietnam and southeast asia. two, commodities are becoming more and more scarce in china. so china wants to secure a good supply of commodities overseas. so we're already seeing strong investments by chinese companies in australia. that will spread and is spreading to latin america and the middle east. and the final reason is chinese companies want to become multinational companies as well. they will benefit a lot from

getting bigger economies of scale. >> to achieve sustainable growth, he says china needs to increase higher productivity. >> i think it's very important that they weed out any of the inefficiencies in the system to make the economy more efficient and then more productive. that will keep growth high. that might involve some consolidation, particularly in the state-owned enterprises. i think also factor prices like electricity, water, fuel prices, they need to be deregulated over time as well. >> that was robert suburama. now a quick check on some other numbers from hong kong and macau. the headline hsbc purchasing manager's index for may fell to

49.4 from 50.3% in the previous month. signalling a slight deterioration in private sector business conditions. the figure was the first sub-50 reading since last december. output fell over the month due to weak demand and economic turmoil in europe. an hsbc economist said there's no need to panic as business is still humming, but china has to rev up soon if hong kong is to fend off incoming turbulence from the west for the rest of this year. the growth rate of casino revenues in macau plunged in may. total gambling revenue rose from over a year ago, but it's still down nearly 30 percentage points from early this year. analysts say the slowing chinese economy is driving customers to be more careful with their money. that wraps up our report from hong kong. back to you in tokyo. >> and that was jayme ng in hong

kong. two more business stories for you -- japanese beveragemaker suntory holdings is extending its grip on the world's biggest beer market with tsingtao brewery. the two firms will set up a joint company by the year end, at earliest. the new entities will sell beer in shanghai and neighboring areas. the japanese firm already holds the largest share of shanghai's beer market but says price competition is heating up. suntory says the tie-up will help improve efficiency and extend its reach in the lucrative beer market. nissan's electric car, the leaf, will be launched as a taxi cab in brazil on a trial basis. two units will go around next week. the largest city in south america. the cars are zero emissions shown on the outside. the city officials say these cars would be the first electric taxi cabs in central or south america.

the mayor took a ride to experience the quiet comfort. sao paulo plans to add eight units by the end of the year and installed 15 charging stations. the move comes as pollution is getting worse in brazil's fast growing urban areas as more and more people drive cars. people in japan's northeast are focused on overcoming the challenges of the 2011 disaster. but it won't be easy. they have to rebuild homes, businesses, entire communities. we'll show you their struggles and their successes on "the road ahead" every wednesday at 1:00 p.m. japan time here on "newsline." tokyo electric power company is defending the way it handled the nuclear accident last year in its in-house report. the findings are set for release by the end of this month. the report counters criticisms made by a government panel.

workers have been telling their accounts to the utility since last june. hydrogen explosions occurred at three reactors after the march 11th quake and tsunami knocked out most of the plant's power. the government panel says workers at the number one reactor didn't know emergency cooling valves were closed and the system wasn't functioning. but tepco says it was impossible to check the valves because there was no power. the utility now says it needs to re-examine its fail safe system for total blackouts. and at the number three reactor, the government report says weak batteries stopped the emergency cooling system for nearly seven hours. it says employees underestimated the risk of the batteries going flat, but tepco says it had to stop the system to protect the water-injecting mechanism. and the government panel is expected to issue its final report by late july. more than a year after the earthquake and tsunami, a young

woman uses manga to tell the survivors' stories. in "the road ahead" we meet her and find out why she's taken this road. >> this manga shows what victims went through in the disaster. and how they are trying to recover. the author based the stories on actual conversations with survivors. mehoko is the storyteller. she began posting the manga on her blog soon after the disaster so readers understood the victims' ordeal. >> mom. someone. anyone. please help me. my mother's down here. >> her blog caused a sensation. she published a book. an english version followed so people around the world knew about the tragedy.

ishizawa volunteered to help clean up a hard-hit town. she spoke with disaster survivors about what they feel and about their future. >> translator: i thought about what i could do to stop people forgetting about what happened in tohoku. i decided to draw a manga that tells the story of each victim. >> reporter: she wrote "my hometown, field of cole." it's about a man who clears debris along the riverside to plant cole flowers. he wants the blossoms to encourage people not to give up. >> i am not doing anything extraordinary, but if i can clean up this whole place, i hope i can get everyone to smile again. if the town is covered by pretty cole flowers, smiles would

return to people's faces. >> reporter: ishizawa returned on may 11th. the area overflowed with color. after hearing about the man's passion, locals and volunteers helped plant the flowers. >> translator: how are you? you look well. >> reporter: once again, ishizawa found the man. his name is bunzo kaneyama. >> translator: the flowers are a symbol of everyone's love and cooperation. one day a field of cole. >> translator: the dream came true. >> translator: yes.

if we wish hard enough, dreams do come true. >> reporter: the field of flowers became a place where survivors heal. after returning to tokyo, ishizawa put together another story about kaneyama's field of flowers. ishizawa says she feels for the people waiting for the recovery. >> translator: one year isn't enough time. i want to tell my readers that recovery efforts are going much slower than we imagined, and it will take longer. people should never forget the disaster. nor let it defeat them.

ishizawa hopes to continue telling her inspiring stories about the survivors' recovery and hope. and now to some other news we are following today starting with the latest al qaeda deaths. pakistan officials say u.s. drones killed 16 al qaeda militants over the weekend. they say senior leader abu al libi was one of the casualties. they caught him in pakistan and held him in afghanistan but he escaped in 2005. back stan's foreign ministry summoned u.s. deputy ambassador richard hoagland on tuesday to protest the drone strikes. jay carney described libi as an operational leader and general manager of al qaeda. he said his death is the harshest blow to the group since the killing of osama bin laden. more than 10,000 egyptians blockaded tahrir square in cairo on tuesday. they are protesting against one

of the candidates in the upcoming presidential run-off election. ahmed shafiq was the last prime minister in hosni mubarak's government. he'll face mersi on june 16th and 16th. the protesters criticized the decision last week to hand mubarak a life sentence rather than the death penalty. they fear the former regime is trying to regain power. and a solar powered plane has made history flying from spain to morocco. the first intercontinental flight by a solar aircraft. the pilot is swiss adventurer bertrand peacock. he landed it in the capital. his flight took 19 hours. the swiss-made aircraft is fitted with 12,000 solar cells on its wings. the cells provide electricity to a motor that drives the propellers. the plane's wingspan is 63 meters, about the same as a

large passenger plane. he is planning to embark on an around the world flight within two years. rainy wednesday in tokyo. time now to check the world weather forecast with sayak sayaka mori. >> hi there. let's first talk about japan. severe tropical storm mawer. rainfall benefit 70 meters. it started to pull away from these islands and will become a rem ment low by thursday morning local time. but high waves and rough seas could be a concern along the coast of the southern islands, special sl as the pacific coast of mainland japan for the next couple of days. conditions will improve across much of the country tomorrow, and temperatures will be warming up to above average temperatures tomorrow. but behind it there are a couple of low pressure systems producing thundershowers and gusty winds in much of northern china and to the south yet

again. heavy rain across much of the southern half of china. and down towards the south, a strong southwesterly monsoonal flow is producing a lot of heavy rain across much of southeast asia, particularly wet in the melm malay peninsula in southern thailand. rain has already fallen on already saturated ground causing a lot of problems. let's go to some video coming out of southern thailand. it has been struck by landslides and flash floods caused by torrential rain. the storms which begone on sunday night and lasted through monday morning brought water levels up to two meters in some places. many roads were closed and homes were inundated. authorities have evacuated residents of flood prone areas. it looks like heavy rain will move away from the region and continues to head towards the north. continues to head towards the north. however, its rainy season, so

more rain is coming down for the next couple of days. conditions could get worse. all right. head into the americas. we've got a strong low pressure system producing thunderstorms across montana, southern portions of alberta and saskatchewan. actually three tornadoes have been reported in montana. heavy thundershowers will continue to move into the northern half of the plains on wednesday. and things will turn quite severe in and around northeastern corner of colorado on your wednesday. tornadoes are not out of the question. back behind it, there's another strong low moving into the west coast. things will turn quite wet and gusty in british columbia and the pacific northwest starting late wednesday. down towards the south, there's a stationary front producing thundershowers, but things will turn drier across much of the gulf coast, but instead, much of texas and the florida peninsula will remain very wet because ample moisture is coming in from

the gulf of mexico. temperatures are on the hot side in houston. 34 degrees expected. and 32 in miami. the heat is extending all the way up towards the north affecting central canada. finally, let's go over to europe. a low pressure system is moving into central europe from the british isles and the western continent. so looking wet here. and back behind it, there's another strong low moving into the same area. so things will turn stormy on your thursday and friday. and then out towards the east, thundershowers are erupting across much of eastern europe as well as turkey. temperaturewise, 24 in moscow and the same goes for kiev and out towards the west, warming up to 19 in london and 21 degrees in paris. here's your extended forecast.

one more story before we go. star gazers have been treated to another rare cosmic event. the transit of venus is not quite as spectacular as last month's solar eclipse, but the latest celestial show once again had people reaching for their telescopes and special glasses. people in japan have seen venus slowly crossing the surface of the sun. the transit takes more than six hours. the irk vent occurs when the sun, venus and earth line up. this rarely happens because earth and venus have different revolution periods and orbit at different angles. elementary school students in fukuoka prefecture central japan were among those looking to the skies. >> venus looked like a mole on the face. it was funny. >> translator: i missed the solar eclipse last month, so i was happy to see this event. >> people in japan last saw the phenomenon in 2004 but most won't get the opportunity again. the next chance to view the transit of venus from anywhere in the world will be in 105

years. shame we missed it in tokyo. that's it for this edition of "newsline." i'm yuko aotani in tokyo. thanks for joining us.